May’s tearful exit cuts no ice
Comment
Theresa May has announced that she will resign on Friday 7 June, breaking down as she concluded her speech in front of Downing Street with that she has been serving “the country I love”. Her speech attempted to focus on her ‘achievements’ rather than her failures.
TV commentators immediately started talking about her dignity and empathising with her pain, but May’s tears cut no ice.
Here are just a few of May’s ‘achievements’:
She has been a PM who debased our democracy by making the abuse of democratic process for her own ends a routine thing and ran and hid rather than face votes in the Commons – yet who lost none of the arrogance she showed as Home Secretary when she became PM.
May was responsible for the awful Windrush scandal, yet let – and probably made – Amber Rudd fall on her sword so May could hold onto the keys to Downing Street, then slapped Windrush people in the face by bringing her back into her Cabinet.
She had known that Windrush folk were citizens, yet deported them anyway, denying compensation to many. And when a parliamentary vote threatened to expose the full extent of her involvement in the abuse of their rights, she whipped her MPs to defeat it and keep her shame hidden.
May promised the survivors of the Grenfell Tower horror they would be rehoused within weeks. Almost two years later, many are still waiting.
May was responsible for the horrific statement that asylum seekers should be deported first and appeal later – and covered up the rendition scandal that she personally oversaw.
May lied about the AIQ/Cambridge Analytica scandal – and still dodged answering even when exposed.
May knew about sexual harassment by Tory MPs long before it was exposed – and was responsible for a huge ‘loss’ of evidence against parliamentary child abusers.
May personally vetoed visas for NHS doctors from overseas, prolonging the suffering of NHS patients.
She binned the second part of the Leveson enquiry to protect her allies in the abominable right-wing press from the consequences of their involvement in spying on vulnerable people.
Worst of all, she has:
- overseen the ongoing, inflicted collapse of our NHS
- terrorised disabled and vulnerable people with cuts, sanctions and constant tests to remove their support
- cut councils’ budgets so hard that they can no longer support many of the most vulnerable in our communities
- pushed the number of children in poverty to well over four million
- pushed fourteen million of our citizens in such desperate poverty that the UN’s special envoy for extreme poverty has just condemned it again and has said it could easily be solved if she had wanted to
- continued and intensified policies that have seen the deaths – the ‘social murder‘ of at least 120,000 people
- forced rape victims and domestic abuse survivors to prove their abuse or face loss of benefits and even homes
This is by no means an exhaustive list – it would be a huge undertaking to list all of her ‘achievements’.
No, Theresa May deserves no sympathy. Her tears cut no ice compared to the anguish of millions and deaths of tens of thousands in which she played a full and enthusiastic part.
And now she will be replaced by no less a horror, whichever Tory wins their leadership race – and the UK will be forced to suffer two unelected Prime Ministers in a row and the depredations they will continue to inflict.
Cry for the people, not for Theresa May.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.
Today, let’s just celebrate
Excellent article SKWAWKBOX.
Definitely worth a share when I find it on Twitter or FB
You’ll find the Twitter and Facebook Links are at the bottom of this page
FFS all this faux ‘admiration’ and ‘sympathy’ for TM is 🤮inducing
The reverential tone of the reporting was to be expected – even if it was emetic. I guess it’s a notch down from a state funeral.
But May trying to emulate Churchill was more than I could stomach. The self-justifying deception about ‘achievements’ would have required a heart of stone in order not to laugh uproariously.
Here we are in the middle of a specifically Tory disaster and continuing social disintegration, and the woman is claiming ‘achievements’. Every scintilla of possible personal sympathy was crushed listening to that parade of fiction.
But beyond that : ‘celebrate’, SteveH? I think not. There’s more – and possibly deeper – shite to come. I’d preferred her to have stuck it out. But that, of course is why the cabinet and Party have moved decisively.
So the cruel, power crazed, clingon, incompetent PM announces she is stepping down to be replaced by… worse no doubt. In the meantime she has enabled the persecution of Assange, terrorist proxy forces in Libya/Syria that bombed Manchester (as Home Sec), tied UK to EU military Union, presided over suffering, poverty and even deaths of UK citizens through cruel, ideological austerity policies and has the gall to state she loves UK… what a perverse world we now live in… war criminals who killed, maimed and destroyed the lives of millions walk free and are even lauded in the disgusting ‘western’ MSM/PSP and those who expose crimes of states are hounded and punished…
Meanwhile LP tries to guilt trip voters implying that only LP is fighting far right and neo fascism ergo if you don’t vote Labour you are a fascist or supporting fascism whilst putting up mostly extreme neo liberal candidates bent on overturning a referendum… what a sorry state of affairs.
May’s resignation through eyes of historian Mark Curtis. Spot on I say!
https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/1131921136546144257
Excellent article in (of all places) the Independent, entitled “Spare your tears for Theresa May – she doesn’t deserve an ounce of sympathy”
http://tinyurl.com/y6l4nkeh
Mixed emotions here. Glad to see the back of her, the tears mean nothing but as pointed it’ll be welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss. The shameless Tories won’t worry about unelected leaders they will do their up most to keep that off the agenda.
One useless, lying, cheating, self-serving shithouse rat will only be replaced by another.
Meh!
Am I the only one that detected the note of anger in Theresa May’s voice when she spoke of the ” country I love”. It seems to me that the tears were tears of anger. I think she is one furious lady at the moment and will probably have a lot more to say before very long.
Anyway who cares – she’s gone and we are rid of the most arrogant pigheaded and incompetent PMs ever but as a few posters have said above there is probably as bad ( or worse) to come.
The incoming leader will have implement a hard Brexit and also show that he/she is tougher that the person who brought us Windrush, PIP assessments etc so we are in for an even more vicious battering from the Tories from here on in.
Tories announce timetable – we’ll have new PM by July 18th
smartboy 24/05/2019 at 11:53 am
I think it was her hubris shining through. Frustration at being unable to understand why everyone was too dim to realise that she knows best.
You could be right Steve H. There was a lot of self justification in the speech – Theresa knows best.
The speech also reminded me of the time she attacked MPs for refusing to agree her withdrawal agreement – more of her Theresa knows best arrogance. She was fuming and couldn’t contain herself so her know all attitude was there for all to see. I think she is furious at being forced out and we definitely haven’t heard the last of this.
However glad as I am to see her go I worry about who will take over from her – I think we might be going from the frying pan into the fire.
smartboy 24/05/2019 at 12:31 pm · ·
“I think we might be going from the frying pan into the fire.”
Me too, let’s hope the fire doesn’t turn out to be a furnace,
More like she was overcome by self pity.
Yes there is definitely an element of that too David. Its good to see that she is capable of pity even if it only for herself. Unfortunately she showed no pity to the people reduced to destitution and worse by the Windrush scandal, Universal Credit,PIP sanctions etc. She has shed tears for herself not them which shows you exactly the kind of person she is – a Tory through and through.
“Am I the only one that detected the note of anger in Theresa May’s voice when she spoke of the ” country I love”. It seems to me that the tears were tears of anger.”
Hurt ego I expect, along with anger at her cohort who are chucking her off her delusional, self erected pedestal.
Still time to inflict more damage to UK, its reputation (in the gutter anyway) its economy and people and she hasn’t actually gone yet, will she go on 7th June or July 18th if Tories manage to elect a new ruthless quasi dictator?
Maria 24/05/2019 at 2:58 pm
She will stand down as party leader on June 7th but will stay on as PM until the new leader is elected around about July 18th
source BBC R4 News
If Theresa May had any decency dignity or care for this country she would have resigned with immediate effect ( months ago) and allowed an interim leader to take over ( as we did when Ed resigned.)
However you are talking about the Tory party here so don’t expect any of them to put country or party interests above self interest.
David Cameron should be dragged kicking and screaming back to No.10 to clear up the steaming shitheap he created.
Then to get utterly slaughtered along with his party at the (surely) imminent General Election!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tdJWncmFQ9Q
I love it when Tories blub on TV as they get kicked to the kerb.
And seeing the rest falling over themselves to praise her “achievements” as they wipe entrail parts from their knives.
I see Steve Baker’s thrown his hat in the ring.
“Unless the party now wholeheartedly fights for Brexit, there will be no more Conservatism”
He also retweeted the Torygraph headline “The Conservatives may not survive the most lethal existential crisis in their history.”
I guess if he or Boris win there’ll be some people here joining the Tories.
LBC thought it’d be Raab, Leadsom, Johnson, Mordaunt and Gove.
I’m worried there might not be enough popcorn to last the course.
How does Bojo’s quest for leadership and his court case for lying during vote leave work out?
It won’t matter a jot – he has said and done an awful lot worse and he’s still the darling of the Shires.
I am hearing how she has lowered taxes for millions as one of her successes yet we have the heaviest tax burden since the 70s. the Party is run on spin and dishonesty
Now, what WOULD be social justice would be for may to have to sign on at the DWP – only to be told it’ll get a 3 month sanction for ‘deliberately making oneself unemployed’
The airwaves were over-run by Tories this morning – pontificating about ‘what next?’
The one interesting input was that of Matthew Parris who was able to step outside the ‘poor ickle brave May’ syndrome.
Given that Gove and Johnson – two record-breakers in the field of incompetence – were the front runners amongst the run-of-the-mill usual suspects, I actually started listening when Parris suggested his choice of Rory Stewart.
He wasn’t daft enough to think it was a likely choice; but he had a generally valid point : if the Tories had enough nous to go for an unusual suspect, relatively untainted by recent events (which I doubt) – they might actually recoup more ground than than expected. Never say never.
She is also a horrible nuclear warmonger.
And let us not forget this:
https://www.thepeoplesnewsonline.co.uk/single-post/2018/04/26/philip-may-profiting-from-wifes-military-policies/
What I find perplexing about all this is that it was planned and coordinated to kick off the day before the EU elections. I mean these things don’t just happen by chance.
Anyway, Boris Johnson is the hot favourite to win the leadership election, and I have little doubt that despite her tearful act/performance, behind the scenes they have been doing private surveys so as to establish who would be best placed to get the Tories well ahead of the LP before they call – on some pretext or other – for another general election (with more than a little assistance from the MSM of course):
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/16/tory-leadership-contenders-whos-up-whos-down-replace-theresa-may
PS And I have a feeling that Andrea Leadsom will end up being the main contender to Johnson.
Allan Howard 24/05/2019 at 1:18 pm
Do you suspect they’ll fix it again?
When May got elected some of her supporters ‘lent’ their votes to Leadsom (the lame duck) in order to cut the legs off Gove who was a serious contender for May, particularly with the Tory membership.
Anything is possible Steve, but it’s hard to see how Johnson won’t romp home given that he is the hot favourite at the moment amongst the membership, but if the Establishment have other ideas, they’ll do whatever is necessary to undermine him during the course of the contest.
Reply to Alan Howard at 1.53pm
As you probably know Alan,under the Tory party rules the Tory MPs conduct a series of elimination ballots and the last 2 candidates still standing at the end of the process go to the membership for the final decision.
Therefore it is possible that Boris will be eliminated in one of the early rounds. However knowing his popularity among Tory members and voters the MPs may support him too.
Who knows and who cares – they are all Tories and we need to get them out so that we can have a Corbyn led government which will set about restoring dignity and a decent way of living to the poor, sick, old, homeless and otherwise vulnerable in our society
Smartboy @3.07pm: I recall reading that many Tory Party members were very angry that they didn’t get a chance to vote for a new leader in the last leadership election in 2016, and I can only imagine that they would be really irate if Tory MPs eliminated Johnson from the contest prior to them – his supporters amongst the members – getting their chance to vote for him, given that he’s the number one choice of so many of them. As you said in a comment earlier, “… he’s still the darling of the Shires”.
Yes, I agree that that may cause the Tory MPs to allow Boris Johnson to go forward to the Tory membership for the final ballot but isn’t it a disgrace Allan that the PM of the country is to be chosen by MPs in a government without a majority and around 120,000 Tory party members? What is democratic about that?
We definitely need a General election but the chances of that are slim as the Tories,the Cuks and certain members of the PLP will do all in their power to prevent it . They know only too well a General Election will result in them losing their jobs, expenses, spouses salaries in some cases, fees for TV appearances and newspaper articles etc. and has been said previously on this site ” Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas”
Even the achievements she mentioned were not achievements they were failures too
Probably the first time she has cried since childhood
Cameron blubbered when he resigned too.
I thought Tories were made of stern stuff?!?!
It’s the coke Carruthers, the damned coke.
It will be interesting to see if the ‘moderates’ make another leadership challenge to JC once the European election results are announced. Given that they work with the Tories to do all they can to undermine Jeremy and the left, my gut feeling is that they WON’T, at least not until sometime after the Tories have elected a new leader/PM. The last time around they fixed it so that there would be no contest, so as to allow the MSM to focus completely – and negatively regards JC – on the LP leadership election, but I think this time around the ‘moderates’ will leave the way clear for the MSM to do a big, positive public relations job for the Tories during their leadership contest (whilst no doubt continuing to smear and demonise Jeremy and the left).
I posted on the issue you raise in response to a different article Allan.
In my opinion its up to CLPs to make sure their MPs know NOW that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
MPs need to be told NOW that any MP who expresses no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn will themselves face a vote of no confidence locally. Additionally any MP challenging or supporting a leadership challenge will face a challenge themselves when it comes to selecting a PPC for the next election.
The same should apply to the MPs who while apparently loyal to the party and the leadership undermine Jeremy Corbyn as and when they can.
HQs / NEC need to support CLPs in this matter and CLPs need to show that they mean business by being proactive and calling in their MPs and warning them of the consequences for THEM if the participate in any way in Coup 2.
The stakes are too high for us to let this situation develop any further.
Amazing that anyone found May’s public blubbing touching. Anyone of substance who’s been on the wrong end of a political election/selection etc. should know that it’s not a good look. It’s really an admission of not being up to it. If you can’t stand the heat …
exactly
Given that the Labour Party have been ahead of the Tories in every poll conducted since round-about the beginning of April (apart from the yougov polls which have had them even-steven and are ALWAYS out of kilter with the other polls), and given their disastrous local election results recently, they had no choice but to change the leadership/PM. And I’m pretty certain that May accepted that and, as such, her performance earlier was just an act. These people are devoid of real emotions, as they couldn’t possibly do the harm they do to so many people if they had even a milligram of humanity. As with ‘matter’, their is also anti-matter, and these people are undoubtedly anti-human.
It was entirely predictable that the Tories were going to change horses – the only question has been about precisely when.
… and it is obvious that this is their only hope of rejuvenating their electoral base. The whole performance has held no surprises.
The cautions are obvious : the spectacular Tory decline has masked the steady fall in Labour support (look at the moving averages – individual polls aren’t very indicative) – and be wary : like cockroaches, the Tories have got a record of survival.
This is the Tory’s ‘Custer’s last stand’, we have seen it all before with John Major, Thatcher booted out and Mr Grey took over, the gullible public then voted him in thinking it would be an improvement on Thatcher, only it was business as usual.
We should all be shouting from the rooftops how all these Tories have been guilty of dismantling the state, causing poverty and economic
Chaos.
“we have seen it all before with John Major”
… and then what happened?
This sums up Theresa May and the Tories
Philip Alston says he thought government response to his report might be a spoof
UN poverty expert hits back over UK ministers’ ‘denial of facts’
The United Nations expert whose warning of deepening poverty in Britain was this week dismissed as “barely believable” by ministers, has said the government’s denial is as worrying as the poverty itself.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/24/un-poverty-expert-hits-back-over-uk-ministers-denial-of-facts-philip-alston
‘Amber Rudd is considering lodging an official complaint against a United Nations report that labelled the government’s welfare politics a “sanitised” version of Victorian-era workhouses.’
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/poverty-in-the-uk-tragic-un-poverty-expert-warns-in-damning-assessment_uk_5ce44a0ae4b09603b63c71cc
These people are beyond despicable!
I was just checking to see how much coverage this got by the MSM and, as such, came across the following piece of black propaganda in the Sun:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9134382/upside-down-united-nations-dictators-praised-democracies-condemned/
“This British citizen summed up Theresa May’s Tory government in a Twitter thread – and it is horrifying”
https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2019/05/25/this-british-citizen-summed-up-theresa-mays-tory-government-in-a-twitter-thread-and-it-is-horrifying/
We’re not really rid of her yet. BBC news this morning stated that she intends to continue as an MP. Depending on who gets the top job, we could see her back in the cabinet.
We could end up with a ‘feminist dream team’ running the country 🤢